Tony Abbott did not need to be in Western Australia with his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, while Clive Palmer was toying with his government in Canberra.

About a week before Abe’s arrival, the Japanese government, through back channels, expressed surprise – and also delight – that Abbott would not only host Abe in Canberra but then accompany him to the Pilbara and Perth.

Protocol did not require Abbott to head west, the Japanese said. It would be a bit like Barack Obama trailing Abbott to Houston, Texas, following the Prime Minister’s White House visit last month.

In Canberra this week, the private dinner, the address to Parliament, a lunch, a joint press conference and a banquet in Parliament House’s Great Hall was ample. Abbott’s choice to accompany Abe was a further and significant gesture of goodwill, and the Japanese were chuffed.

Not so chuffed were some of his colleagues who wondered where the Prime Minister was as legislation for the government’s most symbolically important policy – the repeal of the carbon tax – was being stalled at the eleventh hour by another Clive Palmer populist ambush.

Abbott’s absence was redolent of the general policy malaise afflicting the government at the moment. Its budget is in free fall yet key players such as Treasurer Joe Hockey and others who have custody over some of the most controversial measures are nowhere to be seen.

Public advocacy for the budget has dropped to virtually nil while the new Senate has been merrily tearing it up.

On Monday, apropos of nothing, Palmer used a National Press Club address to announce he was blowing another $9 billion hole in the budget by opposing the abolition of three measures linked to the scrapping of the mining tax: the schoolkids bonus, the low income superannuation contribution, and the income support bonus.

Previously, all Palmer had objected to out of the entire $13.4 billion in policies to be cut, along with the mining tax, was one element of the income support bonus – abolishing $250,000 a year in payments to children of veterans killed or wounded.

There was no warning that he had suddenly decided to go into bat for the other measures until he stood on stage and announced it.

Coalition bloopers

In that same speech, Palmer ripped Abbott over broken election promises as he justified why he would also stop the government making any changes to the renewable energy target (RET) and implementing some of the budget cuts for which the government had no mandate.

But this logic came unstuck when he announced he would block $8 billion in mining tax measures. Abbott had listed the measures time and again before the election as promised budget cuts. He had an explicit mandate to remove all of them.

At this point, it should have become apparent that Palmer is as motivated by populism and a desire to make life miserable for the Coalition, which spurned him as he is by any policy objective.

This week, the Coalition’s tactics team and Senate leadership blundered twice.

On Monday, the Palmer United Party senators voted against a motion to bring on the debate so as to bring the carbon tax repeal to a vote on Tuesday.

Once the “misunderstanding” behind that shock was squared up, the Coalition messed up again on Wednesday when it moved a motion to gag debate and bring on a vote but failed to gather the requisite numbers first. It was amateur stuff, and Labor Party hardheads – who managed to keep a hung Parliament together for three years, never lost a vote on a bill and passed some pretty controversial legislation – scoffed in derision.

To those critical of Abbott for being absent while chaos raged, it is arguable whether his presence would have helped. Not just because he and Palmer cannot abide each other personally, or that the Abbott is not a renowned negotiator, but because Palmer is prepared to shift the goalposts every time just to frustrate him.

The simplest thing this government had to do was abolish the carbon tax. It had an unambiguous mandate to do so and the stated support of all eight crossbench senators.

Motion goes pear-shaped

Palmer first flexed his muscle two weeks ago by appearing alongside Al Gore.

Palmer, who is being advised by former Greens staffers Ben Oquist and Richard Denniss, now both at the Australia Institute, recommitted to killing the carbon tax but stated he would use his numbers to frustrate the remainder of the Coalition’s carbon package – its Direct Action policy and its desire to water down the RET and abolish the Climate Change Authority and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Last Sunday night, Palmer and Environment Minister Greg Hunt agreed on the amendments Palmer would move in return for his support to abolish the carbon tax. These would have ensured that energy companies not only passed on savings to consumers but detailed it on customer bills and faced stiffer fines for non-compliance. All was well until Palmer met Hunt and Senate leader Eric Abetz on Wednesday night saying he wanted to make some small changes.

Palmer presented his changes at 9.15am on Thursday – just 15 minutes before the Senate was to sit and the government, with the PUP’s support, was to move a gag motion to force a vote before midday.

The government readily agreed, even though the amendment was worded so ambiguously that even a rank amateur could spot sections that appeared to extend the tough new impositions well beyond the energy sector to any business whose inputs had been affected by the carbon tax – that is, any business with a power or gas bill.

Regardless, the government was prepared to pass this into law. Things turned pear-shaped when the Senate clerk noted the bill was unconstitutional because the penalties amounted to a tax and such money bills had to be introduced in the lower house first.

The clerk suggested a small wording change which would have allowed the amendments and the final vote to proceed. Palmer refused. He insisted on the unconstitutional version, meaning the whole shebang had to start again on Monday in the lower house.

And guess who will be on his feet in the House of Representatives come Monday morning, moving the amendment to ensure the battlers don’t get ripped off. The honourable member for Fairfax, of course.

Phillip Coorey is The Australian Financial Review’s chief political correspondent.

The Australian Financial Review

BY Phillip Coorey

Phillip is the AFR's chief political correspondent, based in our Canberra bureau.